Due to my incessant whining about the evilness of big content, it's easy to forget that despite all the lunacy those guys throw our way, there are also cases where they're simply very much right. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting on the story of Qiang Bi, who has just been sentenced to jail for two and half years for piracy.

This cases are always worst when the citizens live in counties with strong diplomatic and commercial ties with the US. If you are a hacker, watch well how much your country is enforced on those ties, and take care.

I can't comment about the US, but in the UK the attitude has always been ... if someone is using Piracy as a business then we will do something about it, however if it someone lending their mate a Microsoft Office CD or a copy of a Game, it is pretty much impossible to enforce and so a blind eye is shown ... pretty much everyone does it ... if a friend wants an album I have ripped I will just copy the MP3s over to his stick.

However certainly in my social circle, spotify has pretty much stopped a lot of piracy by some of my friends, because they don't need to do it and listening to an Ad once every 4 or 5 songs doesn't really bother them. In fact I use Spotify even if it is music I got on my machine, just because it is easier.

The thing is when I can download an entire Album in less than 30 minutes (with a decent broadband connection), why would I bother travelling to the record shop? People are lazy and will do the least amount necessary to get something in the vast majority of circumstances. Spotify certainly is less effort than finding a torrent.

However certainly in my social circle, spotify has pretty much stopped a lot of piracy by some of my friends, because they don't need to do it and listening to an Ad once every 4 or 5 songs doesn't really bother them. In fact I use Spotify even if it is music I got on my machine, just because it is easier.

The thing is when I can download an entire Album in less than 30 minutes (with a decent broadband connection), why would I bother travelling to the record shop? People are lazy and will do the least amount necessary to get something in the vast majority of circumstances. Spotify certainly is less effort than finding a torrent.

Anyway I have gone off on a tangent.

It might be a tangent but its also spot on. Most people I know who used to pirate a lot of stuff just use Netflix and services like it. People are naturally Good and Lazy so give me an easy way to do something and don't treat me like a criminal and I am more then happy to pay.

However certainly in my social circle, spotify has pretty much stopped a lot of piracy by some of my friends, because they don't need to do it and listening to an Ad once every 4 or 5 songs doesn't really bother them. In fact I use Spotify even if it is music I got on my machine, just because it is easier.

It's the same with me and several of my friends. I too used to pirate lots of music, but then I found out about Spotify, got a free pass to it at first and absolutely loved it. Then I just went on and upgraded to premium account. It's simply easy, convenient, and the price is right.

The same can applies to games, too: I used to play pirated games because I couldn't afford to buy games, but then a friend introduced me to Steam. It took me some time to get used to it, but over time I've grown very fond it. There's the weekly special deal which I used to for example buy Batman: Arkham Asylum only for 7 euros, and now there was the 2-week Christmas special and I've bought a dozen games. Steam makes gaming easy as they always have all the game files you need and installing the games is as easy as clicking a few buttons. No need to worry about serials, missing DVDs or anything. Again, same as Spotify, it's really easy, convenient, and the price is definitely right. There simply is no need to pirate anything anymore.

That's the thing: most people would probably prefer non-pirated versions if buying, maintaining and using them was made easy and convenient, and they weren't overpriced. But companies always strife to make things harder, inconvenient, and then proceed to overprice the products, too.

If one is a criminal, sure.. be aware of the possible outcome of your activities locally and when the US leans on your local gov.

If one is a Hacker, they are simply a self directed learner who focuses on a specific topic down to it's most minute detail. They value sharing of information so each can learn from the work of others; an information economy provided one has authority to release the information. Hackers may not be remotely interested in computers or technology at all. Sex Hackers, Political Hackers (not "hacktivists"), Psycology Hackers.. heck any topic can be "Hacked" ("hack" meaning "to understand" eg; "I think I hack how this works.. what's next?")

If one thinks "criminal" when they hear the word Hacker, they really don't understand either words.